Aurangzeb: Whitewashing Tyrant, Distorting Narrative

The course of the world was changed by Abrahamics whose lust for power and fanaticism has led to the annihilation of indigenous civilisations to an extent that a vast majority of them no longer exist even in name. As a result, some of the cultures, traditions and knowledge systems were lost forever. Some of the darkest chapters of history that underscore this intolerance and depravity are totally whitewashed. Records of some of the conquests and brutalities heaped on the conquered populations in different corners of the world find oft mentioned in history books. Over decades, to maintain their supremacy and domination, a template of selective presentation of history has been consciously adopted and advocated. Lost in the deluge of this selective interpretation of history, descendants of indigenous civilisations gave up their hopes of reclaiming their past.  Indeed, whitewashing history has been a tested and tried tool of vested interests hellbent on wiping out any residual remnants of indigenous cultures.

This prodigal template is now lavishly deployed against Bharat, the upholders of the oldest living civilisation. Consciously picking the selective snippets from historical records to suit a pre-set narrative, a so-called eminent league of historians propped an icon to deny the excesses of zealotry unleased on Indians. Meticulously repackaging the Mughal King, Aurangzeb, an inveterate religious bigot, the symbol of Muslim colonialism and the quintessential hero of Pakistan, portrayed as a ‘secular, progressive ruler of India’, insidious attempts are being made to change the discourse.

At a time, when religious fanaticism is rearing its ugly head and nibbling at the syncretism of Indian society, it becomes imperative to revisit the history for an uncontrived understanding. Challenging the gross falsification of revisionist narrative, debut author, Saurabh Lohogaonkar through his book- “Aurangzeb: Whitewashing Tyrant, Distorting Narrative” has brought to light several facets of the tyrant monarch. Terming this endeavour of bringing out some inconvenient truths as a “fact-finding exercise” the author has enriched readers’ understanding of the political contours of India during Aurangzeb’s regime.

Deconstructing the revisionist narrative, the author busts several myths. Defending the temple demolitions as the king’s way of punishing disloyal Hindu officials by destroying the temple he patronised, all the acts of religious fanaticism were exculpated. The attacks on temples that served as prime centers of learning and reconversion, especially in the case of Kashi, were attributed to a rebellion. For instance, the Jat revolt, the zamindar revolt and the Rathore revolt were used as cover for the ruthless destruction of temples in Mathura, Kashi and Mewar respectively.

Castigating temples as places of teaching deviant religious doctrines they were constantly targeted to wipe out Santana Dharma. Hideously, providing cover to these motives, revisionist theories condoned these acts as ‘demolition for political purposes’. Reserving special commendation to these exponents, the author calls them- “Political resistance theorists”. These theorists in collaboration with another set of lobbyists- “Aurangzeb Defenders League” flagrantly justified the imposition of the “Jizya” tax on Hindus under the ruse of rising- ‘Hindu revolts, the building of new temples, financial strain on the treasury due to wars, need to please the orthodox ulemas amid dwindling Hindu support’. In their enthusiasm to defend the indefensible, several biographers of Aurangzeb have thrown objectivity to the wind. Rejecting all these ludicrous reasons, the author brilliantly busts a trail of lies and unravels the abject bigotry of Aurangzeb.

The book gives a detailed list of the Hindu rulers who were forced to convert to retain control over their fiefdoms. Announcing a lucrative amount for conversion of non-Muslims, Aurangzeb launched a mass conversion program as well. Burying these inconvenient truths, a fake narrative was created. Berating the fight of Hindu rulers against the tyrannical Mughals of Timurid origin who invaded India lobby groups have malevolently portrayed them as Indian rulers.  They contested the natural right of the people of the land to defend their country from invaders.

Deconstructing this narrative based on chronicles, the author points out that Babur wanted his body to be buried in Kabul and wanted to expand the boundaries towards Samarqand. Shahjahan attempted to capture Balkh and Badakshan provinces. He reportedly spent nearly 25% of the revenue on conquests. Interested in capturing those territories, Aurangzeb stationed his son Prince Shah Alam at Kabul and lamented his failure to take “ancient possessions of our ancestors”.

Generating reams of atrocity literature, “eminent historians”, attributed anything and everything under the sky in the Indian realm to Mughals. Countering this obnoxious fiendish fetish, the author convincingly presents the facts. After his ascent to the peacock throne, Aurangzeb appointed Irani-Turkish to the highest positions, next in line were Indian Muslims while Hindus were demoted to lower order. Aurangzeb played the religion card to the hilt, imbuing the teachings of Ahmad Sirhindi of Nasqhbandi order, he deemed India as the land of kuffar. Leveraging his deep religiosity, he portrayed Dara Shikoh as an apostate and won the support of the orthodox ulema. Subsequently, through calculated moves, he ruthlessly killed all his brothers and nephews to lay claims to the throne.

Denying the Bharatiyas of their gory past replete with episodes of zealotry and the fanaticism that sapped the vitality of their civilization, ‘self-appointed sentinels of Indian history’ glorified and extolled the invaders. Defending the conquests ‘to civilise, illiterate, unwashed masses’ historical sources, the discriminatory policies followed by Aurangzeb were normalised.

Unlike some Mughal kings who coopted the Hindu rulers, deeply distrustful Aurangzeb interfered in the traditional primogeniture succession and usurped the Hindu fiefdoms to launch his discriminatory anti-Hindu agenda. Consequently, Aurangzeb had to spend the last 27 years of his rule in relentless wars with non-Muslims. This had severely dented the economy, treasury ran empty. A spate of defeats against the Marathas demoralised Aurangzeb’s troops. Besides the cost of raising and maintaining troops, Marathas used to extract heavy sums to release captured Mughal officials and heavy bribes for the seizure of forts. As per records altogether 1 million soldiers were believed to have lost their lives in these battles. Another million died due to two years of consecutive famines in the Deccan between 1702-1704.

Disapproving the governance of Aurangzeb, his son Prince Akbar who fled to Persia in a stinging letter offers a reality to his father wrote- “In Aurangzeb’s reign, the wild and low are favoured, they pass by in mighty state and arrogance, these are his companions and counsellors as they govern all, the noble and learned are undone because he don’t want them in the Court at all. The whole world wonders at seeing this misrule; Behold to what conditions we are now reduced to!”.

In this extensively researched book, the author provides various tables and pie diagrams for easy understanding. An exhaustive list of towns whose names were changed to erase the Indian identity should alone alert a keen reader that reconversions, renaming and destroying the identity are not random events but have been an integral aspect of his governance. These aspects become all the more relevant since simple acts of renaming cities/towns/ streets to reclaim their original identity are vociferously opposed by self-professed intellectual lobbies.

George Orwell says, “the most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history”. Even as thousands of ruined temples spanning the length and breadth of India and renamed cities whose real identity expunged from contemporary discourse are now a lived reality, new generations are deliberately fed the white-washed history to deny atrocities and genocide.

By critically refuting this falsified history, the author has rendered an invaluable service. This book caters to the curiosity of readers who analyze things objectively and appreciate an empirical approach.

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